K29 



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ADDRESS OF GO YER:N^0R KELLOGG 



TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES 



ON THE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN LOUISIANA, 



WITH OFFICIAL FACTS AND FIGUEES. 



V 

V 



ADDEESS OF GOYEEKOE KELLOGG 

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE ITNITED STATES 

ON THE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN LOUISIANA, 

WITH OEPICIAL FACTS AND FIGIJEES. 



State op Louisiana 
Executive Department 
New Orleans, September 30, 1874, 



^A, i 

74.5 



To the People of the United States; 

Events that have recently transpired in 
this State have turned the attention of the 
whole nation upon Louisiana affairs, and 
have caused a resuscitation of the false 
statements and perversions of facts which 
for two years have been circulated far and 
wide, and which appear to have been ac- 
cepted as true by a considerable portion of 
the press and the people. I have waited 
until public feeling, excited by the startling 
occurrences that have taken place here, 
should have had time to calm down, so that 
a temperate statement of actual facts might 
be dispassionately received. 

Close observers of Southern politics 
have long been aware of a determination 
to overthrow Republican rule in Louisiana — 
strongly Republican as this State is known 
to be — and from the vantage point thus 
gained to carry the movement into Missis- 
sippi and other Southern States in which 
the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments 
to the constitution of the United States are 
still respected, and to some extent en- 
forced. Jn 1868 organized violence was re- 
sorted to for this purpose, and was only de- 
feated by the prompt action of Congress. 
Fraud was employed in 1872, but also 
failed to achieve the desired result. In 1873 
the unification expedient was tried. The col- 
ored people were promised mixed schools, 
employment on street cars and in foundries 
and workshops, equal rights in all bar- 
rooms and soda shops, and, in short, more 
than the strongest advocate of civil rights 
had ever asked for them, on the implied 
condition that* they would put .the Demo- 
crate in office. This movement failed, and 
now, in 1874, all the principles of unification 
have been reversed, and under the organ- 



*See Exhibit A. 



ization of a white man's party* an appeal haa 
once more been made to arms. 

The events of the fourteenth of Septem- 
ber last are too well known to need recital. 
There was no honest motive, no substantial 
cause to justify that misguided and disas- 
trous movement. The sole purpose of the 
leaders of the insurrection was to obtain 
possession of the offices of the State; and 
while they were so engaged, to the mani- 
fest injury of the commerce of the city and 
the credit of the State, the great bulk of 
my supporters, who form the producing 
element of the country, were quietly en- 
gaged in picking cotton, cultivating sugar 
and harvesting the rice crop of the State. 

The reasons assigned for the criminal 
disturbance of the peace of the city and State 
on the fourteenth of September last were: 
First, that this State is not Republican, and 
that the present State administration was 
not elected. Second, that the present State 
administration had been corrupt and op- 
pressive. 

Reversing for the sake of greater clear- 
ness the order of these charges, I proceed to 
show that neither is true. 

No candid reader wUl fail to have ob- 
served that the charge of corruption and 
oppression, like all the accusations that 
have been made against the State adminis- 
tration, is couched in general terms, 
and no specific act is brought for- 
ward, much less sustained by proof. I 
propose to confront these general charges 
of wrong-doing by a specific state- 
ment, taken from official records, of the 
financial condition of this State when the 
present government came into power, and 
of its financial position now; and also to 
show where the responsibility of the heavy 
State debt, which, is most unjustly charged 
upon my administration, properly rests. 

*See Exhibit B. 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



When the present State government came 
into office there were outstandmg, from pre- 
vious administrations, Auditor's checks on 
the treasury, known as State warrants, 
which the Treasurer had been unable to 
pay for lack of funds, to the amount, in 
round numbers, of $2,300,000 (Auditor's re- 
port of 1872, page thirty six). There were 
outstanding bonds issued before and since 
the war to the amount of $21,800,000, Since 
I have been in office I have signed 576 
bonds of $1000 each and 125 second mort- 
gage bonds of the same denomination, the 
latter issued upon a section ot ten miles of 
completed railroad. In both cases the is- 
suance of these bonds was authorized by 
acts of the Legislature, passed previous to 
my coming into office, and was rendered 
obligatory upon me by a decision of the 
Supreme Court as to the first issue, and by 
the written opinions of the law officers 
of the State as to the latter. No act 
of the Legislature has been passed 
during my occupancy of the executive 
chair to authorize the issue of a single bond 
to increase the indebtedness of the State. 
The outstanding $2,300,000 of floating in- 
debtedness left by previous admin'stratione 
has been reduced under my administration 
to less than $1,400,000. This reduction has 
been accomplished by no increase of taxa- 
tion, but by an energetic collection of delin- 
quent taxes and an honest application of 
the taxes so collected to the liquidation 
of the past due indebtedness of the 
State. To effect this result the law 
officers of the State were compelled 
to appeal to the courts to set aside 
an iniquitous law passed mainly by Demo- 
cratic influence under the previous admin- 
istration which virtually transferred all the 
receipts from back taxes to a brokers' ring. 
The State has thus been enabled to pay un- 
der our financial management more than 
$900,000 ot the old floating debt of the State 
with the old assets. And the delinquent 
taxes now due and unpaid are sufficient, if 
collected and applied under the policy we 
have inaugurated, to pay ofl' the balance of 
the old floating indebtedness. 

Since the first of January, 1874, to Sep- 
tember 1, our current receipts from licenses 
and taxes have amounted to within $67,000 
of our current expenses during the sanxe 
time; and this in despite of a disastrous 
overflow which has necessarily retarded 
the collection of taxes. 

I recommended to the Legislature, dur- 
ing ita last aeesion, the adoption of the 



policy of restricting the revenues of each 
year to the expenditure of the same year, 
and of declaring null and void all appropria- 
tions made in excess of revenue. These 
recommendations were adopted, and a con- 
stitutional amendment was proposed to be 
submitted to the people to carry them into 
effect. 

The appropriation bill passed last winter 
contained many items which were believed 
to be unnecessary and improvident. The 
payment of these items has been enjoined 
by the courts on the application of the At- 
torney General, and the appropriations of 
the last Legislature — in themselves much 
less than the appropriations of previous 
years — have been reduced within the 
amount of the estimated receipts. The 
large amount of $2,300,000 of outstanding 
warrants remaining unpaid when the pres- 
ent government took charge of the State 
consisted of warrants issued year by year 
over and above the current revenues of 
such year. Our administration, it is be- 
lieved, will show no excess ot appropriation 
over revenue.* 

I submit a statement of the appropria- 
tions made by the dift'erent administrations 
which have controlled affairs in Louisiana 
during the last nine years: 

The Democratic Legislature of of 1865, 
1866 and 1867, composed exclusively 
of white men, Mr. McEnery and others 
of my present opponents being influ- 
ential members, made appropriations of 
$17,129,554; while the total taxes collected 
daring the same period were $3,379,000; 
leaviag an excess of appropriations over 
revenue of $13,750,554. 

Governor Warmoth's administration 
made appropriations for current State 
expenses, exclusive of school, levee and 
interest funds, as Ibllows: 
For 1868 andl869 *Hf!?'2IjA 

^ormY:::::::::::::::.::::: 3,722,969 

For 18-2 1,819,856 

Total $10,378,745 

Governor Kellogg's administration has 
made appropriations for current State 
expenses, exclusive of levee, school and 
interest funds, as follows: 

For 1873 *l'?^o?55 

For 1874 i,n2.m 

Total $2,726,:.79 

As will be seen, the saving the first year 
of my administration over the last year of 
my predecessor, was $157,213. In the 
second year, a still further saving was 

*Soe Exhibit C. 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



effected of $547,732. At the same rate, 
during: the next two years, my administra- 
tion -will cost $5,452,758, while the adminis- 
tration of my predecessor, for the same 
time, cost $10,378,745, and the Democratic 
administration of 1865, 1866 and 1867 cost 
$17,129,554. 

A statement made by the Auditor, of this 
date, now before me, shows: 
Bonded debt of the State January 1, 18G9 $9,833,562 
Increaee of bouded and floating debt 
during Governor Warmoth's admin- 
letration, a portion of whieh was 
incurred by the Democratic Legis- 
lature of 1865-7 14,250,685 

Total debt when Governor Kellogg came 

into office $24,084,247 

Increase during Governor Kellogg's ad- 
ministration by Issue of bonds au- 
thorized by !aw8 passed previously... $701,000 

Keduction of debt during Governor Kel- 
logg's administration by redemption of 
past due bonds, funding operations 
and I'etiring of outstanding floating 
obligations 1,626,023 

Showing a net decrease of debt under the 

Kellogg administration $925,023 

I respectfully commend the foregoing 
statement, which is, of course, easily veri- 
fied, to the consideration of those Northern 
journals which have denounced my admin- 
istration as corrupt and oppressive, and 
which yet protess to believe in fair play. 

A committee of eminent citizens appointed 
by me in 1873, irrespective of party, to ex- 
amine and report upon the status of the 
public debt of the State, and our means of 
payment, recommended as the most equi- 
table adjustment which the resources of the 
State would permit, the funding of the 
State debt at the rate of fifty cents on the 
dollar. Subsequently the Chamber of Com- 
merce of the city of New Orleans, in sub- 
stance, indorsed this recommendation of 
the committee of citizens. Believing that 
the justice and strength of the proposal to 
scale the indebtedness ot the State 
lay in the fact of the State oftering to its 
creditors the very utmost amount it 
was able to pay, and believing as I 
did that by an economical admin- 
istration of its revenues the State 
could afford to pay to the holders of its 
bonds sixty cents on the dollar, instead 
of fifty cents, as proposed, I recommended 
to the Legislature the passage of an act au- 
thorizing the funding of all the legal and 
valid outstanding indebtedness of the State 
at this rate, the bonds so issued in exchange 
to be guaranteed by constitutional amend- 
ment, and the appropriation of interest on 
them to bej made by the same^means per- 
petual. 
I also recommended a constitutional 



amendment, which was passed by the Leg- 
islature, limiting the State debt, when 
funded, to $15,000,000, and the rate of taxa- 
tion to twelve and a half mills, exclusive 
of the school tax (two mills). All these 
amendments are to be voted upon at the 
election in November. My recommenda- 
tions were adopted; and the funding bill 
became a law with the then almost universal 
assent of the property holding people ot the 
State. 

Parish taxation is by law limited to the 
same rate as State taxation. The taxes 
assessed for the present year, under the 
operation of the laws passed by the Repub- 
lican Legislature, amount to fourteen and a 
half mills State (including schools), and by 
consequence in no case more than fourteen 
and a half mills parish. During the last 
two years of the late regime State taxes 
were never less than twenty one and a half 
mills, and parish taxes in some instances 
were carried as high as fifty mills. 

The debt of the city of New Orleans 
amounts to $23,000,000, or about the same 
as the debt of the entire State. This in- 
debtedness has been almost exclusively in- 
curred under Democratic management. 
The Legislature, upon my recommendation, 
adopted a constitutional amendment limit- 
ing the debt ot the city, and prohibiting 
any city government from incurring fur- 
ther indebtedness. 

In co-operation with the Chamber of 
Commerce I submitted also to the Legisla- 
ture, by special messages, a number of bills 
which would have reduced the annual ex- 
penses of the city nearly $1,000,000. All 
these bills passed one house of the General 
Assembly and some of them became law; 
but several of the most important measures, 
notably a bill reducing the extortionate 
fees of the criminal sheriff of the city, which 
amount to seventy or eighty thousand dol- 
lars a year, failed through the influences 
brought to bear by Democratic oQioe hold- 
ers to defeat these measures of retrench- 
ment. The bills we succeeded in passing, 
however, have enabled the city council to 
effect a reduction in city taxation of five 
mills. 

In carrying into effect these and other salu- 
tary measures, including the passage of a bill 
punishing bribery which was one of our 
first acts, the Republican party had no aid 
or countenance from those who now com- 
plain so loudly of the burdens under which 
the State is suffering. With the assistance 
which my opponents could have rendered 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



me, had they taken tlieir seats in the 
Legislature, I might have been able to carry 
out not only all the measures of retrench- 
ment ■which I recommended, but others of 
equal importance, including a much needed 
reduction of the expenses of assessing and 
collecting the State taxes which I urged 
upon the Legislature, in my last annual 
message, and strenuously but unsucoessfuliy 
exerted myself to carry into effect. 

Whea we came into office we found slum- 
bering on the statute books, ready at any 
time to be called into activity, acts passed 
under the previous administration and by 
the Democratic Legislature of 1866, creat- 
ing a number of grievous monopolies and 
involving the State in contingent liabilities 
to the extent of over $8,000,000. With one 
sweeping measure the Legislature wiped 
out all these monopolies and contingent 
liabilities. This one act, which I urged with 
all my power, has, perhaps, brought down 
upon me more hostility from disappointed 
monopolists and contingent beneficiaries 
among the moneyed interests of the oppo- 
sition than almost any other act of my offi- 
cial career. 

To recapitulate the financial results 
achieved under my administration: We 
have, in two years, paid off over $900,000 
of old floating indebtedness, with the old 
assets of the State. We have reduced the 
debt, by the funding bill, from twenty-five 
millions to fifteen millions, not to be in- 
creased until after the year 1924. We 
have reduced the State taxes from twen- 
ty-one and a half mills to fourteen and 
a half mills, not to be increased until 
after the same year. We have provided 
that parish taxation shall not exceed 
State taxation so that the greatest amount 
of taxation any one parish can be called 
upon to pay in any one year is twenty-nine 
mills. We have enabled the city of New Or- 
leans to reduce city taxation five mills. We 
have largely reduced State expenditures 
and confined them strictly within the limits 
of our revenues, and we have repealed over 
$8,000,000 of contingent liabilities. All this 
has been effected by us without aid from 
those who arrogantly claim to represent all 
the viitue and intelligence of the State, and 
while contending against violence within 
the State borders and organized vilification 
abroad, and while the very existence of the 
government was being threatened. This is 
the financial record of the administration 
which our opponents assort has been so 
corrupt and so oppressive as to drive the 



State into bankruptcy and the people into 
riots. 

The spirit which animates my opponents 
and the sincerity of their professions of a 
sole desire to advance the interests of the 
State irrespective of personal aims, is aptly 
shown by their course with regard to the 
financial reforms I have enumerated. At 
their convention at Baton Rouge they re- 
commended the people not only to vote 
against the constitutional amendment in- 
dorsing the funding bill, but also against 
the amendments limiting the State and city 
debts, reducing taxation, restricting the 
expenses of each year to the revenues of that 
year, and against a perfectly innocent 
though necessary little amendment chang- 
ing the day fixed by the constitution for 
holding the State elections to the day fixed 
by Congress for the election of presidential 
electors, so as to avoid the expense of a 
two days' election. The reason assigned 
for this coui'se was that they did not desire 
to recognize the legality of the Legislature 
which had passed these measures; but when 
a question of office became subsequently 
involved, no such conscientious scruples 
prevailed. The same convention which ad- 
: vised the people to reject the constitutional 
1 amendments so as not to recognize the 
Legislature which passed them nominated 
I a candidate for a congressional district 
j which only exists by virtue of an act passed 
I by this same Legislature, at the same time 
as the constitutional amendments. 

The records of the State show that every 
job put through the Legislature during the 
administration of my predecessor was voted 
for by the educated Democrats as well as 
by the ignorant colored men. Some of the 
most oppressive monopolies now on the 
statute books were lobbied through in the 
interests of prominent members of the op- 
position. Nearly one-fifth of the existing 
bonded debt of the State was created in two 
years by the Democratic Legislature of 1866; 
a large portion of the present oppressive 
city debt has been created under Democratic 
administrati(m. Divided upon all other 
questions, split up into five or six different 
tactions, each with a distinctive title, the 
Democracy of Louisiana are united on two 
points — a desire to get control of all the 
offices of the State, and a wish to exclude 
the colored people from the rights conferred 
upon them by the constitution of the coun- 
try. Upon these two points they are a 
terrible unit. 

The second charge brought against me 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



by my opponents is that I was not elected 
to the position 1 hold. Mr. Marr's commit- 
tee, in their recent address attempt to for- 
tify that assertion by extracts from the cen- 
sus of 1870, showing a small excess of white 
over colored males over the age of twenty- 
one. The whole force of the argument is 
destroyed at once by the fact, which 
Mr. Marr designedly or accidentally 
fails to mention, that the same cen- 
sus shows that there are nearly 15,000 
alien males over the age of twenty-one in 
this State, who are of course disqualified 
from voting.*- Deduct these 15,000 aliens 
from the total of white citizens claimed for 
the Democracy, deduct also the 5000 or 
10,000 known white Republicans and add 
that number to the colored male adults — all 
made citizens by the war — and the census 
argument establishes a larger excess of Re- 
publican over Democratic voters in this 
State than even the Republican party claim. 

There are two other points that may be 
mentioned in this connection. First, that 
there are a large number of colored m en in 
this State so nearly white as to pass for 
■white, and who were doubtless so classed 
by the census enumerators; and, secondly, 
that there has been for years past, and still 
continues, a steady immigration of col- 
ored people to the fertile, alluvial lands 
of this State from other Southern 
States. The assertion that the Republican 
party was divided at the last election may 
be passed by with the single comment, that 
it is not true. Governor Warmoth and 
Messrs. JtloMillen and company may have 
carried over their own votes to the Fusion 
camp, and probably did so, but they took 
nothing else; and for every vote they car- 
ried, at least a corresponding niimber of 
honest Democrats refrained from voting the 
Fusion ticket, disgusted with the unholy 
alliance on which it was based. Governor 
Warmoth was wanted by the Fusionists, 
not because it was believed he could 
bring over to them any appreciable 
number of Republicans, but because it 
was believed he could so use the then 
existing registration and election laws as to 
prevent the Republicaas carrying the State, 
or, failing in that, could so disguise and 
change the result through the maaipulation 
of the returns as to make it appear that 
the Fusion candidates were elected. 

Mr. McEnery and myself were the only 
candidates for the Governorship. We borh 
stumped the State; I especially went into 

*See Exhibit D. 



nearly every parish, making the first thor- 
ough Republican canvass ever marte in 
Louisiana. It was well known throughout 
the State that I represented the Republican 
party and the national administration, and 
that all my antecedents had been Republic- 
an. In my canvass I advocated Republican 
principles, pure and simple, defending the 
reconstruction acts of Congress, the four- 
teenth and fifteenth amendments and their 
legitimate results. Oa the other hand Mr. 
McEnery was well known as the inflexible 
oi>ponent of the colored man. It was well 
known that as a member of the Legislature 
of 1865, 1866 and 1867 he had supported the 
vagrant laws so obnoxious to the colored 
people; that he had opposed the fourteenth 
amendment and had supported the several 
acts passed by that Legislature discrimi- 
nating against the colored people. In short, 
that his official record had shown him capa- 
ble of oppressing the colored man when- 
ever opportunity offered, and of reducing 
him again to virtual slavery. Is it likely 
that the colored people voted for Mr. Mc- 
Enery. When I was nominated for 
Governor the conservative papers in 
many instances spoke approvingly of my 
nomination, and warmly commended the 
course I had pursued in the Senate in ad- 
vancing the material interests of the State. 
The New Orleans Picayune editorially said 
that "the nomination of Senator Kellogg 
was a source of gratification to all good 
citizens;" and, though the whole strength 
of the opposition was thrown into the fight 
against me, their own returns show that I 
ran far ahead of my ticket. 

The question as to whether Mr. McEnery 
or myself was elected Governor of this 
State is one that I have several times pro- 
posed to submit to arbitration. When the 
suit brought in the United States Cirouit 
Court was still pending, I offered through 
my counsel, Mr. William H. Hunt, a South- 
ern man and one of the foremost lawyers at 
the bar of this State, that the returns 
should be submitted to five prominent and 
disinterested citizens, two to be chosen by 
each side and the fifth by the four, and I 
proposed to abide by the result of their 
decision; but this proposition was declined. 
I am prepared to show before any compe- 
tent tribunal that a portion of the returns 
upon which Mr.McEnery bases his claims are 
forgeries manufactured in this city. I am 
able now to produce the judicial officer be- 
fore whom a portion of the blank tally lists 
and returns were sworn — to be subsequently 



6 



Address of Qvvernor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



filled up here in this city, and palmed ofT 
upon the public as the genuine returns of 
an election held in strong Republican par- 
ishes far distant from this city. Even Sena- 
tor Carpenter, in his speech in the Senate 
on the fourth of March, said, "I do not 
think MoEnery was in fact elected, though 
the returns show that he was." I hold my 
self now ready to impeach the returns 
relied upon by the Fusion boards as altered, 
defaced and in some instances forged out- 
right. I charge moreover, that the returns 
from Iberville, St. James, Terrebonne, St. 
Martin and other Republican parishes were 
thrown out by the Fusion returning boards 
for no just reasoB, but because they gave 
myself and the Republican ticket a heavy 
majority; and I assert that by the genuine 
returns, counting the votes actually cast I 
was elected by several thousand majority, 
and upon this issue I am ready to stand or 
fall. 

The State constitution provides that in 
November next there shall be an election 
for Congressmen, a State Legislature, and 
various State and parish officers. The 
present election law is substantially the 
law passed during the last administration, 
in the interests of the conservative citizens 
of the State, but which Governor Warmoth, 
at the request of the Fusionists, refrained 
from signing until after the election, 
in order that he might use in their be- 
half the much greater powers conferred 
upon him by the old law, whose repeal 
they had, previously to their alliance with 
liim 80 urgently demanded. Under the old 
law — the law under which the Fusionists 
conducted the last election — the ballot 
boxes were removed from the polling places 
to the offices of the supervisors of election 
and were counted wherever and whenever 
the supervisors pleased, without any ade- 
quate supervision. Under the new law the 
ballots must be counted openly at the 
polls, immediately after the election, in 
the presence of disinterested witnesses. 
Under the old law the Governor appointed 
the supervisors, and the supervisors ap- 
pointed the commissioners of election, who 
might be, and were, in fact, at the last 
election all of one political pHrty. Un- 
der the new law the police juries ajipoint 
the commissioners of election in all the 
country parishes, and the commissioners 
must be chosen one from each political 
party. Under the old law the returning 
board consisted ol the Governor, Lieutenant 
Governor, the Secretary of State and two 



other designated persons; they had abso- 
lute control over the returns, and could 
alter, suppress or reject them at will. Un- 
der the new law no State officer is a mem- 
ber of the returning board. The board con- 
sists of five persons elected by the Senate, 
one at least of the opposing political party. 
The returns are required to be made out in 
triplicate, one copy to be forwarded to the 
returning board. 

The existence of many fraudulent regis- 
tration papers, especially in the city of 
New Orleans, rendered necessary the pass- 
age of a law providing for an entirely new 
registration, 'if the election in November 
were to be free, as we desired it to be, from 
the irregularities which had characterized 
previous elections. Accordingly a bill was 
passed by the Legislature on the last day 
of the session, and some time^subsequently 
was sent to me for approval. After exam- 
ining the bill and finding it in the main a 
fair and just measure, marred by some de- 
fects, but still a vasti improvement on the 
old law, which must remain in force unless 
I approved this bill, I announced my in- 
tention to sign and promulgate it as soon 
as the time came for entering upon regis- 
tration. I have done so, and registration 
has been actively and satisfactorily pro- 
gressing for the past thirty days, 
except when interrupted for a brief period 
by the'insurrection of September 14. De- 
siring that there should be no possibility of 
doubt as to the fairness of the registration, 
I voluntarily offered, before the registration 
opened, to appoint one clerk to be named 
by the opposition in every registration office 
throughout the State. At the last election 
we were denied all representation both in 
the registration offices and at the polls. I 
have more recently proposed, through the 
Republican State Central Committee, to 
agree to the appointment of an advisory 
board, to be composed' of two Republicans 
and two Democrats and an umpire to be 
chosen by the four, with which board I de- 
clared my willingness to advise and consult 
in all matters relating to the appointment 
of registration officers and the management 
of registration throughout the State. 

There is no just and proper safeguard that 
can be suggested to me which I am not 
willing to throw around the conduct of the 
coming election. The Republican party is 
ready to be judged by the verdict of that 
election, provided it can be held without 
intimidation or violence. If our opponents 
can show at a peaceable election that they 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



have a majority of the qualified voters of 
the State, we shall unoomplainingly abide 
the result. It, on the other hand, the Re- 
publican party sbonld triumphantly vindi- 
cate its claims to the government, we shall 
have a right to expect the acquiesence of 
our opponents, and the active support of all 
law abiding citizens throughout the coun- 
try. In the event of our success 
the nation can certainly leave the interests 
of this great State in the hands of those who 
in so short a time and against such adverse 
circumstances have done so much to reduce 
the burdens of the people and advance the 
material welfare of the community, with 
greater safety than would attend the sur- 
render of the lives and liberties of more 
than 80,000 peaceful, industrious Republican 
citizens to a party which has never attempt- 
ed anything for the redemption of the State, 
which, during its brief resumption of power 
immediately after the war, showed itself 
utterly incapable of honest government, and 
which ha s three times within the last six 
years attempted to override the known will 
of the maiority, twice bj violence and once 
by fraud. I ask those Republicans of the 
North who have lent a willing ear to the 
indiscriminate denunciations of Northern 
men who hold office in the South, and of 
the Republicans of the Southern States, to 
reflect that these denunciations proceed 
from those who hate Republican principles 
everywhere, and who can see no virtue in 
any man who is not identified with them 
in sentiment or in interest, or in both. 

If I consulted only my personal feelings I 
would rather be relieved of the position I 
now hold than continue to retain it in the 
face of the difiiculties and calumnies which 
beset me at every step. But there are 
higher questions involved than mere per- 
sonal feelings. My resignation would 
simply transfer the executive duties to the 
next in rank, and would make no change in 
the status of the State. Either the Repub- 
lican party in Louisiana is in the right or it 
is in the wrong. If we are right I owe it to the 
national Republican party and to the gen- 
eral government to maintain my position. 
If we are in the wrong, and the people at 
the coming election should so declare, the 
constitution and the laws of the State pro- 
vide a sufficient remedy. We confidently 
await that verdict, and meantime ask from 
the people generally, on this plain showing 
of the good we have done and the evil <?e 
have refrained from doing, a more just judg- 
ment and a ;more generous sympathy than 



have yet been given to the Republican 
State government of Louisiana. 

WILLIAM P. KELLOGG. 



EXHIBIT A. 



Un{flcation in 1873. 

The following declaration of principles 
was adopted by "we the people of Louisi. 
ana," in mass meeting assembled at Expo, 
sit ion Hall, in the city of New Orleans, 
July 15, 1873, and several thousand gentle- 
men of high standing in the community 
published in the city papers a statement of 
their unqualified adhesion to the views thus 
set forth: 

Whereas, Louisiana is now threatened 
with death in every vital organ of her 
moral, material and political being; and 

Whereas, Her dire extremity is but the 
fruit of unnatural division among her natu- 
ral guardians — the children of her soil and 
of her adoption; and 

Whereas, We have an abiding faith that 
there is love enough for Louisiana among 
her sons to unite in a manful and unselfish 
struggle for her redemption; be it therefore 

Resolved, That henceforward we dedicate 
ourselves to the unification of our people. 

Second — That by "our people" we mean 
men of whatever race, color or religion, 
who are citizens of Louisiana, and who are 
willing to work for her prosperity. 

Third — That we shall advocate by speech 
and pen and deed the equal and impartial 
exercise by every citizen of Louisiana of 
every civil and political right guaranteed 
by the constitution and laws of the United 
States, and by the laws of honor, brother- 
hood and fair dealing. 

Fourth — That we shall maintain and ad. 
vocate the right of every citizen of Louisi- 
ana, and of every citizen of the United 
States, to frequent at will the places of pub- 
lic resort, and to travel at will on all ve- 
hicles of public conveyance on terms of 
perfect equality with any and every other 
citizen, and wo pledge ourselves, so far as 
our influence, counsel and example may go, 
to make this right a live and practical right, 
and that there may be no misunderstand- 
ing of our views on this point — 

1. We shall recommend to the proprietors 
of all places of licensed public resort in the 
State of Louisiana, the opening of said 
places to the patronage of both races inhab- 
iting our State. 

2. That we shall further recommend that 
all railroads, steamboats, steamshipa and 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



other public conveyances pursue the same 
policy. 

3. We shall further recommend that our 
bankw, insurance offices and other public 
corporations recognize and concede to our 
colored lellow-citizens, where they are 
stockholders in such institutions, the right 
of being represented in the direction 
thereof. 

4. We shall further recommend that here, 
after no distinction shall exist among citi- 
zens of Louisiana in any of our public 
schools or State institutions of education 
or in any other public institution supported 
by the State, city or parishes. 

5. We shall also recommend that the pro- 
prietors of all foundries, factories and other 
industrial establishments, in employing me- 
chanics or workmen, make no distinction 
between the two races. 

6. We shall encourage, by every means 
in our power, our colored citizens in the 
rural districts to become the proprietors of 
the soil, thus enhancing the value of lands 
and adding to the productiveness of the 
State, while it will create a political con- 
servatism, which is the oft'spring of pro- 
prietorship; and we furthermore recom 
mend to all landed proprietors in our Slate 
the policy of considering the question of 
breaking up the same into small farms, in 
order that the colored citizens and white 
emigrants may become practical farmers 
and cultivators of the soil. 

Fifth — That we pledge our honor and 
good faith to exercise our moral influence, 
both through personal advice and personal 
example, to bring about the rapid removal 
of the prejudices heretofore existing against 
the colored citizens of Louisiana, in order 
that they may hereafter enjoy all the rights 
belonging to citizens of the United States. 

Resolved, That we earnestly a.ppeal to the 
press of this State to join- and co-operate 
with us in erecting this monument to 
unity, concord and justice, and like our- 
selveh forever to bury beneath it all party 
preju«lices. 

Itesolved, That wo deprecate and thor- 
oughly condemn all acts of violence, from 
whatever source, and appeal to our people 
of both races to abiile by the law in all 
their tlifl'erenccs as the surest way to pre- 
serve to all the blessings of life, liberty 
and property. 

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to 
the cultivation of a broad sentiment of 
nationality, which shall embrace the whole 
country, and uphold the Hag of the Union. 



Resolved, That as an earnest of our holy 
purpose, we hereby offer upon the altar of 
the common good, all party ties and all 
prejudice of education which may tend to 
hinder the political unity of our people. 

Resolved, That in view of the numerical 
equality between the white and colored 
elements of our population, we shall advo- 
cate an equal distribution of the offices of 
trust and emolument in our State, demand- 
ing as the only conditions of our suffrage 
honesty, diligency and ability; and we 
advocate this not because of the offices 
themselves, but simply as another earnest 
and proof on our part that the union we 
desire is an equal union and not an illusive 
conjunction brought about for the sole 
benefit of one or the other of the parties to 
the union, 

G. T. BEAUREGARD, 
Chairman. 



EXHIBIT, B. 

Platform of the Democratic Party of 
LiouiHiana in 1S74. 

The following platform was adopted at 
the Democratic convention held at Baton 
Rouge, August 26, 1874: 

We, the white people of Louisiana, em- 
bracing the Democratic party, the Con- 
servative party, the White Man's party, the 
Liberal party, the Reform party and all 
others opposed to the Kellogg usurpation, 
do solemnly resolve and declare that the 
government now existing in Louisiana origi- 
nated in and has been maintained by force 
and fraud in opposition to the will of a 
large majority of the voters of the State, in 
opposition to the principles of the constitu- 
tion of the United States and in violation 
of every principle of justice and-liberty. 

That the dominant faction of the Radical 
party in this State has, by false and fraud- 
ulent representations, inflamed the passions 
and prejudices of the negroes, as a race, 
against the whites, and has thereby made 
it necessary for the white people to unite 
and act together in self-defense, and for the 
preservation of tvhite civilisation. 

That the rights of all men, under the 
constitution and laws of the land, must be 
respected and preserved inviolate, irre- 
spective of race, color, or previous condi- 
tion; but we deny that Congress can consti- 
tutionally enact laws to force the two races 
ijito social union or equality. 

That the white people of Louisiana have 
no desire to depri%'e the colored people of 
any rights to which they are entitled, but 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



we are convinced that reform is impera- 
tively demanded, and can be eti'ected only 
by electing to office while men of known ca- 
paeity and integrity; and we believe that 
large numbers of colored citizens will vote 
with us, to secure a government which 
must be beneficial alike to both races. 

That we disclaim earnestly any intention 
of carrying, or attempting to carry, the ap- 
proaching election by violence, and that 
charges to this effect eminating from our 
Radical enemies are without foundation, and 
are falsely made for the purpose ot obtain- 
ing the aid of the military lorces of the 
United States in order to overawe the peo- 
ple, perpetuate the existing usurpation, and 
subvert the true principles of the govern- 
ment. 

That W. P. Kellogg is a mere usurper, 
and we denounce him as such; that his gov. 
ernment is arbitrary, unjust and oppressive, 
and that it can maintain itself only through 
federal interference; that the election and 
registration laws under which this election 
is being conducted were intended to perpet- 
uate the usurpation by depriving the peo- 
ple, and egptcially our naturalized citizens, 
of an opportunity to register and vote; but 
we announce distinctly that it is the deter- 
mination of the people to have a fair and 
tree election, and to see that the result is 
not changed by fraud or violence. 

That we extend to all of our race, in 
every clime, the nsht hand of fellowship, 
and a cordial invitation to come and settle 
among us and unite their destinies with 
ours. That while we are in favor of meet- 
ing psnctually the payment of the legiti- 
mate debt of Louisiana, we are immovably 
opposed to the recognition of the dishonest 
aud fraudulent obligations issued in the 
name of the State, and we pledge ourselves 
to make a searching investigation in the 
matter. 

We advise our people to vote against the 
amendments to the constitution proposed 
by the usurping Legislature, and pledge 
ourselves, on the restoration of the govern- 
ment to honest hands, to i)rovide for the 
payment of all honest indebtedness of the 
State. 



EXHILJIT C. 

Receipts and Expenditures. 

The following comparative statement 
shows the receipts of taxes levied for the 
support of the State government, and the 
expenditures for that purpose for the years 



1899, 1870, 1871, 187:2, 187.-3 and 1874. to Sep- 
tf-mber 9, together with the excess of ex- 
penditures over receipts: 
Tear. Rerpiptb. KxpencliturPe. Excpss. 

1869 $1,758,379 78 !p2,5n8,9S2 08 $750,602.-50 

1870 1481,218 86 2:169 5,13 59 888,3117.'; 

1871 1,996 576 99 3,493,739 47 1,497,162 48 

1872 985,8.54 80 2,101895 29 1,11H,040 49 

1873 1,508914 94 1,690 795 89 181880 95 

1B74 536,727 86 663,727 86 97,000 0(» 

Statk ok LoinsiANA, ^ 

Auditor's Ollicn, > 

New Orleaua, October 2, 1874. ) 

The above statement is compiled from 

the records of this ofBce, and is true and 

correct to the best of my knowledge and 

belief. 

CHARLES CLINTON, Auditor. 



EXHIBIT D. 

f Communicated. 1 
Tlie Figures Testify. 

Editor Republican: 

Having read with considerable interest 
and care the address of Messrs. Marr and 
others, published in the Bulletin of the 
twenty-fourth instant, my attention was 
particularly attracted to two points, a re- 
view of which may not be out of place at 
this time. 

The first is the formidable array of figures 
from the ninth census, which at first glance 
would appear sufficiently convincing had 
the whole case been stated, but lawyer like, 
these gentlemen select from the whole intri- 
cate set of tables only what answers their 
purpose, and their published figures are cor- 
rect only so far as they go. 

Let us carefully examine the tables aa 
given, and the conclusions derived from 
them by Mr. Marr and his committee. I 
quote from their address: 

"1. The census of 1870 was taken In the 
months of July and August, when, as is 
well known thousands of the white people 
were absent from the State, in the pursuit 
of pleasure or business. 

"The colored people had neither the 
means nor the inclination to travel, and, 
while this census may be taken as a fair 
exposition of the colored population, it is 
not a correct statement of the white popu- 
lation. 

"This census shows that there were in 

Louisiana in July and August, 1870: 

White males 183 031 

Co oied males 178,784 

Excess of white males 4.247 

White males above the age of lwent.y-one. . . 87,066 
Colored males above the age of twenty-one. 86,913 

Excess ot white males over twenty-one 
years i.-,3 



10 



Address of Governor Kellogg on Louisiana Affairs. 



"By an arbitrary rule the compilers of the 
census classed as above twenty-om^ all per- 
sons whose p.gps were unknown. We know 
that most white persons above the age of 
puberty would be able to state their ages; 
so that very few white persons would be 
classed imi)roperly, while many negroes 
can give no accurate information on that 
subject. Very few white people under 
twenty-one would be classed as of that age, 
while many negroes under twenty-one 
would be classed over twenty-one from 
their mere inability to state their ages. 

"This census was taken under the aus 
pices of the Republican party, and there is 
no pretense that it did any injustice to the 
colored population, or diminished the nu- 
merical strength of that race, its friends 
and adherents. 

It shows a total colored population 364.210 

It shows a total white population 362,065 

Excess of colored population 2,145 

White males 1 83 ,(«! 

White females 179,034 

Excess of white males 3,997 

Colored females 185,426 

Colored males 178,764 

Excess of colored females 6,G42 

"This disparity in the males and females 
of the two races, respectively, shows that if 
the ratio of one to five is a correct basis 
upon which to estimate the voting capacity 
of the white race, with its excess of 3997 
males, a different and lower ratio would be 
necessary to ascertain the voting capacity 
of the colored race, with its excess of 6612 
females. 

"2. It is well known that many Repub- 
licans, white and colored, under the leader- 
ship of Warmoth, Sheridan, Cam|>bi^ll, 
McMillen and Armstead, the colored candi- 
date for Secretary of State, voted the Fusion 
or McEnery ticket, and there is no reasona- 
ble doubt ot the election of that ticket, 
fairly and by a largo majority." 

Now, admitting for the sake of argument 
that all the statements arc correct, and the 
deductions logical (except the last nara- 
grapb, which has been so often and so thor- 
oughly disproved that its further discussion 
would be merely a waste of time and paper), 
Mr. Marr's committee present prima facie 
a very good case, but the careful omission, 
wheiher intentional or not I do not pro])08e 
even to conjecture, of the fact that of the 
white males over twenty one years old, up- 
wards of fifteen thousand are aliens, not 
citizens, and therefore not <iualifiod to regis- 
ter or entitled to vote, destroys the whole 
fabric, and they must begin again at the 



very foundation, if they desire to establish 
any fact by their exhibit of fi ^ares. 

Let us turn to this very census of 1870, 
upon which they so fondly rel.v. On page 
619, in the three la^t columns we find that 
out of the total population of Louisiana in 
1870 there were 

White males twenty-one years and Howards. 87.066 
Colored males twenty -one years and upwards 86 913 

A total of 173,979 

But the total of male citizens is given at 
1.59.001 a difference of very n- arly 15,000 to 
be deducted from the voting strength of 
the whites, as by the results of the 
war all colored males above the 
age of twenty-one years became 
citizens. Thus, deducting from the total 
white males over twenty-one years 87.066, 
this number of aliens or non-citizpns 14 378, 
we obtain the asrgrejrate of the white voting 
population 72,088, against an aggregate col- 
ored voting population of 86,913, which 
shows a clear majority in favor of the 
colored voters of 14.825, to which must be 
added the 4000 or 5000 whites who habitu- 
ally vote the Republican ticket, to say 
nothing of the considerable number of 
colored men of such light complexion that 
few persons would at the first glance ques- 
tion their color and many of whom are 
kr.own to have been classed as white by the 
censua marshals in 1870. 

Most of this alien or non-voting popula- 
tion is resident in New Orleans, as is shown 
by the fact that out of 22,426 foreign born 
males over twenty-one in this city, the 
largest number ever reeistered as voters 
was 13, -586, in the fall of 1868 when our 
Democratic courts did a land ofhce busi- 
ness in the naturalization line to the tune 
of 5488 in that one year, exclusive of the 
first ward, in which the records were de- 
s»^roved during the riots. If further con- 
firmation of the non-citizenship of hun- 
dreds of foreign iiorn male residents of New 
Orleans be needed, the numerous instances 
that constantly recurred in our courts when 
talesmen were summoned for jury duty prior 
to the passage of the new enactments on that 
sulvject can be produced in evidence, as see 
the flies of the Piea//unc and other Dem^ 
ocratic papers. Time and again have num- 
bers of our "oldest and best" been excused 
from .serving on .juries, civil and criminal, 
upon their own plea of non-cifizen.ship, not- 
withstanding acknowledged residences of 
from ten to thirty years. 

A volume could be written upon this sub- 
ject, but the further we go into it, the worse 



Address ef Governor Kellogg on LonWiana Affairs. 



11 



otf do our Democratic friends apppav, and 
I think we have seen enougb of statistics to 
convice all reasonable persons, even Mr. 
Marr and his committee. 

The second item in the address, to which 
1 would refer, is the labored tlennnciation 
ot the registration and election iawa, and 
their administration by Republican officials. 
The provisions oi the law prohibiting judi- 
cial interference in matters of registration 
are identical with the law of 1870, under 
which Mr. Marr's friends conducted the 
registration of ]87"2, in wbicb they man- 
aged to accumulate .55,000 voters in this 
city, without questioning the legality or 
propriety of this obnoxious feature iu the 



law. The election law is that passt^d in the 
session of l87->, but i)ocketed by Warmoth 
until be tbougiit by its signature and pro 
mulgation to evade the mandates of the 
United States courts, and s^erve tlie inter- 
ests of the very party of which Mr. Marr 
and his committee were leaders. Would 
not this complaint and appt'al come witli 
better grace from these gentlemen noii- if 
they could appeal to the record of Louis- 
isiana politics and show that tiiey opposed 
as ardently then these very laws which they 
denounce as infamous, or had risen in arms 
to prevent their siiiodlli working in 1872? 
STATISTICS. 



jjIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 

014 544 226 6 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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